Final denial: UML shuts down hobbled ‘Cats for regional crown

Sunday

Mar 31, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By AL PIKEapike@fosters.com

MANCHESTER – Beating the hottest team in the country and its precocious freshman goaltender to get to the Frozen Four is challenging enough under any circumstances. Doing it without your top two offensive players makes the task even tougher.

That was the unenviable situation facing the No. 2 seed University of New Hampshire hockey team when it took on top-seed UMass-Lowell in the NCAA Northeast Regional final Saturday night at Verizon Wireless Arena.

In the end the shorthanded Wildcats couldn’t overcome the adversity or Connor Hellebuyck in a 2-0 loss to the River Hawks, who advanced to the Division I Frozen Four for the first time in the program’s history.

“It still (stinks),” said senior captain Connor Hardowa. “I’ve been here one too many times in this situation where we’ve gone to that second game and lost. Obviously it’s better than last year losing in the Hockey East playoffs. We thought we had a good team coming in here. We had an opportunity to get a second chance. We won on Friday. We had momentum. We came into this game feeling pretty confident.”

Minus forwards Kevin Goumas and Grayson Downing, who were both injured in Friday’s 5-2 win over Denver, the Wildcats (20-12-7) were eliminated in a regional final for the fourth time in five years and have scored a total of four goals in those four games.

“It affects a lot of things,” coach Dick Umile of the loss of two key players. “They’re two pretty talented players. They’re a big part of our offense. It changes things. It’s a team and other guys stepped up. It’s happened in the past. I thought the guys had a great effort tonight and gave us an opportunity to win.” Goumas and Downing had a combined 73 points. They were replaced in the lineup by sophomore Jay Camper and freshman Collin MacDonald, who had combined for eight points this season and were making their NCAA Tournament debuts Saturday night.

“It was definitely tough losing two top centermen for a game like this at the stage we’re at right now,” said senior forward John Henrion, who made the all-tournament team. “But at the same time we were confident in the players we were suiting up today. It’s been like that all season. We’ve gotten contributions all season from everyone on our team.”

The Rivers Hawks (28-10-2) scored late in the second period and once in the third. That was more than enough offense for Hellebuyck, who finished with 28 saves.

“They get on the puck,” Henrion said. “They forecheck hard. They play like a trap system. They sit back. It’s hard to get up ice and make plays without having to dump (the puck) in and go chase after it. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. All teams do it. They’re just very good at it.”

“You’ve got to give credit to them,” Hardowa said. “They played an unbelievable game. They forced us to dump it in when we didn’t want to. They turned over pucks when we didn’t want to give them up. They made it hard for us to break the puck out.”

The Wildcats pulled goalie Casey DeSmith for an extra skater with just under three minutes left in the game. They applied some late pressure, but couldn’t solve the 6-foot-4 Hellebyuck, who allowed just one goal in two games and was voted the regional’s outstanding player.

UNH outshot the River Hawks in the third period, 13-10.

“They’re a good team,” Umile said. “They make it tough. They don’t let you open it up. That’s how they’ve played all season.”

After almost two periods of tight-checking, scoreless hockey with both teams afraid to make a potential game-changing mistake, UMass-Lowell broke the stalemate with 29.7 seconds remaining in the second period.

Sophomore Scott Wilson, the River Hawks’ leading scorer, knocked in a rebound to cap a goal-mouth scramble and give the Hockey East champions a 1-0 lead.

It was one of the few stretches of sustained offensive pressure by either team during the first two periods as UMass-Lowell won a couple of puck battles down low, ultimately to leading to Wilson’s team-high 16th goal of the season.

Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and A.J. White assisted on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Wilson figured in both UML goals. He set up their second tally in the third period.

“Coming into the game we knew it was going to be a close game up and down the ice,” Henrion said. “It’s typical playoff hockey, especially against a team that tough and that gritty defensively. A couple of mistakes in games like these can change momentum.”

The River Hawks outshot the Wildcats, 18-15, in the first two periods, including 10-5 in the second.

UMass-Lowell added an insurance goal with 6:02 remaining in the third period on a nice individual effort by Adam Chapie. He scored on a rush down left wing, beating DeSmith with a backhander to the short side for an insurmountable 2-0 lead.

“That’s how it goes in the tournament,” Hardowa said. “You make one mistake and it can cost you the season.”